travel

Heading back home for the holidays is no new activity. Since a good portion of us have been doing it since we left our tearful parents at the front steps of our college dorms, by now, we've got some semblance of a routine in place.

Just to let you know, if you buy something featured here, Mashable might earn an affiliate commission. World, meet the heir to the Ostrich Pillow's throne. SEE ALSO: Sleep so well you practically die with this 3-in-1 system Back in September 2012, a squishy, spherical pillow with four holes in it stole Kickstarter's collective heart and more than doubled its $70,000 goal with the help of an innovative crowdfunding campaign. Its purpose was simple, yet brilliant: Stash your hands and your head inside its cozy embrace
a la everyone's favorite flightless African bird, and turn virtually any surface into a comfy "microenvironment" for power naps. What's not to love about that? Like its predecessor, the Ostrich Pillow Light is ideal for catnapping on the go. This time around, though, it's got a few design tweaks that the less conspicuous among us will appreciate — and you can thank Kickstarter backers for that. The design of this second iteration of the Ostrich Pillow was almost entirely decided by the public in 2013. After sending a survey out to their target audience, London-based designers Ali Ganjavian and Key Portilla-Kawamura learned that most consumers found the OG Ostrich Pillow too bulky to wear on a crowded bus or pack in a carry-on bag. And, as you can probably imagine, more than a few people thought it was too bizarre to wear in public. Image: Ostrich pillowAll this feedback led to a new and improved design for Ostrich Pillow 2.0, which managed to more than triple its £25,000 goal (roughly $40,500) and raise a total of about £94,000 ($152,000) by the time its Kickstarter campaign wrapped up. While it doesn't have a place for your hands to rest like the first Ostrich Pillow, the Light version can pull double duty as either a neck support
or a massive sleeping mask. It's less cumbersome construction features sound-reducing filling, making it ideal for both jet-setting workaholics and nap enthusiasts trying to catch a few z's on public transportation. It's available in three colors: midnight reversible, dreamtastic grey/red, and royal blue. As the cherry on top of this portable, whimsical pillow's tale, we're offering it on sale for a limited time for just $39 — a savings of 13 percent. Image: Ostrich Pillow Learn more about Ostrich Pillow Light See Details

Lijiang, China hosts an insect-eating contest that brings visitors from all over the country. Bugs have been a cuisine in Lijiang for centuries. The winner of the competition in the Yunnan Province ate an absurd amount of creepy crawlers in mere minutes and won an interesting prize.

If you’re a fellow wanderluster, you may think that being a flight attendant is pretty much the dream. Because they work long hours across varied climates and time zones — and because they need to be prepared for literally anything — flight attendants have to make smart and strategic decisions about what they choose to stash in their carry-on. Here, five flight attendants on what they’d never leave home — or wherever they’re staying — without.